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Poaching bear baits #6618942
09/17/19 09:04 AM
09/17/19 09:04 AM
Joined: Dec 2013
Posts: 862
St. Croix County, Wisconsin
T
ToTheWoods Offline OP
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ToTheWoods  Offline OP
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Joined: Dec 2013
Posts: 862
St. Croix County, Wisconsin
Now that the baiters season has started in Wisconsin the bait poachers are out in full force. On two of my baits guys have shown up, found the bait sites and bear trails leading in and out and now set up 3-400 yards away. It just chaps my butt. Now I get that these baits are on public land but to not bait a lick and then set up on someone else's hard work is very irritating. My son and I have a lot of time and money into these baits. Trail camera pics show that these two have never been in the woods to bait before Friday when they baited and sat. Yes I have a trail camera at the trail head that tells me who comes and goes. I do this to avoid this type of situation or to catch the thieves that seem to be everywhere now-a-days. There's my rant

Re: Poaching bear baits [Re: ToTheWoods] #6618945
09/17/19 09:13 AM
09/17/19 09:13 AM
Joined: Jan 2018
Posts: 4,528
MN
D
Donnersurvivor Offline
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Donnersurvivor  Offline
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Joined: Jan 2018
Posts: 4,528
MN
For your own peace of mind and enjoyment in the woods just try to give them the benefit of the doubt. Maybe they were planning on hunting that site well in advance and when they seen someone set up there they went what they felt was a respectful distance away and set up, is any of that true? Probably not but it may help you relax while sitting on the stand.

Sorry someone set up on you like that, has to be frustrating.

Re: Poaching bear baits [Re: ToTheWoods] #6618949
09/17/19 09:20 AM
09/17/19 09:20 AM
Joined: Dec 2013
Posts: 862
St. Croix County, Wisconsin
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ToTheWoods Offline OP
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ToTheWoods  Offline OP
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Joined: Dec 2013
Posts: 862
St. Croix County, Wisconsin
Oh we are going to sit the baits. We have good pics a few nice bears. But this was done purposely. We purposely put our site deep to get away from the hounds poaching baits. Just lazy inconsiderate people. I didn't think that anyone in their right mind would go that deep in the woods. No I am obviously not in my right mind. We can't run wheelers back so anything we bring in or have to bring out is going to be by Mr. Stongarm

Re: Poaching bear baits [Re: ToTheWoods] #6618955
09/17/19 09:29 AM
09/17/19 09:29 AM
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 6,548
NC, Orange Co.
QuietButDeadly Online content
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QuietButDeadly  Online Content
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Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 6,548
NC, Orange Co.
And you do not know how to make your antagonists spots so no self respecting bear would come anywhere near them?


Life Member: NCTA, VTA, NTA, TTFHA, MFTI
Member: FTA NRA NWTF
Re: Poaching bear baits [Re: ToTheWoods] #6618974
09/17/19 10:25 AM
09/17/19 10:25 AM
Joined: Dec 2013
Posts: 862
St. Croix County, Wisconsin
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ToTheWoods Offline OP
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ToTheWoods  Offline OP
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Joined: Dec 2013
Posts: 862
St. Croix County, Wisconsin
I know full well how to get that done if I wanted. Believe me

Re: Poaching bear baits [Re: ToTheWoods] #6619017
09/17/19 11:05 AM
09/17/19 11:05 AM
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 6,548
NC, Orange Co.
QuietButDeadly Online content
trapper
QuietButDeadly  Online Content
trapper

Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 6,548
NC, Orange Co.
Sometimes, you got to fight fire with fire........


Life Member: NCTA, VTA, NTA, TTFHA, MFTI
Member: FTA NRA NWTF
Re: Poaching bear baits [Re: ToTheWoods] #6619023
09/17/19 11:15 AM
09/17/19 11:15 AM
Joined: May 2013
Posts: 5,101
Northern Michigan
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J.Morse Offline
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J.Morse  Offline
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Joined: May 2013
Posts: 5,101
Northern Michigan
Claim-jumpers are out there, that is a fact. I have had those types rattle my chain a time or two. The sad thing is this.....as long as the land is public your screwed and can't do a thing about it that may not put YOU in the hot seat. I have had guys so brazen that they actually just sit on my baits like they were theirs. We get the usual houndsmen that will start bear off your bait station too......or very close to it because they know its there. I had an old customer and friend that did a bit of public land guiding and set baits in a very popular area. He was territorial as heck and when anyone moved in too close he made it clear he wasn't happy. He'd usually not cross the line as far as what would be considered legal harassment, but he'd sure lean over that line as far as he could! I told him to be careful with his antics, as did more than one DNR officer. After several years, this bad juju became personal between his camp and some other guys in a nearby camp. In the end, my friend ended up in very deep doo doo. There was a pre-dawn confrontation between him and a guy from the other camp one opening day.....I wasn't there and can't tell what really happened, but suspect each side may have doctored up their story to the law to make it seem better for them and worse for the other guy. At any rate, my old friend was charged with Felonious Assault because he supposedly waved a handgun around a bit! The charges stuck. The whole thing was a real cluster, but it destroyed my friends guiding business, as well as his own health from the stress involved. He was dead within a year or so. He insisted to the day he died that he never did what he was accused of, and that may be true, but he was the one that got splattered the most when the stuff hit the fan.


Re: Poaching bear baits [Re: ToTheWoods] #6619035
09/17/19 11:57 AM
09/17/19 11:57 AM
Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 16,261
Iowa
~ADC~ Offline
The Count
~ADC~  Offline
The Count

Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 16,261
Iowa
How do you know they know you had a bait there? Did you get them on camera by your bait? Not saying you're wrong but is there a slight chance they just found a good trail and set up on it?

Re: Poaching bear baits [Re: ToTheWoods] #6619041
09/17/19 12:14 PM
09/17/19 12:14 PM
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 45,271
james bay frontierOnt.
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Boco Offline
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Boco  Offline
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james bay frontierOnt.
Backtrack your bears and set up where they come out
This also works for big old bears that visit baits late near or after dark.

Last edited by Boco; 09/17/19 12:16 PM.

Forget that fear of gravity-get a little savagery in your life.
Re: Poaching bear baits [Re: ToTheWoods] #6619044
09/17/19 12:23 PM
09/17/19 12:23 PM
Joined: May 2013
Posts: 5,101
Northern Michigan
J
J.Morse Offline
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J.Morse  Offline
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Joined: May 2013
Posts: 5,101
Northern Michigan
We all know one another ADC, and some of these guys will brag about it. As far as it being an accident they start bear near your bait....happens all the time, they are slow-rolling along with a rig dog on the box and BAM, it starts sounding off when it smells a bear that crossed the two-track coming or going to the bait. Can't be helped if the seasons overlap. I have had several bait hunting sits ruined by that happening. I've also had it work to my advantage when the dog crew were friends and I came out of the brush when the chase started, only to be invited along. Shot my heaviest bear doing exactly that. The houndsman whose dogs rigged that bear was an old friend I used to run hounds with. His dogs ran right down across one of my baits that a pal was sitting on, I was on another close by bait and came to the ruckus when I heard the dog pack open up. My pal and I both had hunted 'cats with this old houndogger, so he and I were soon in on a wild chase that ended when I pistoled the bruin to death. One other time, maybe 18-20 years ago, my boy and I were freshening our baits when we came apon a dog crew right near (100 yards) a bait we had. Their dogs were in full chase right back near our bait. Of course the pack moved off as the bear ran off. We re-baited and that p.m. my son said he wasn't gong to hunt that bait on account of the a.m. dog deal. I decided to hunt it myself and shot a bear that evening. You never know. It's the Public Land Crapshoot!

Last edited by J.Morse; 09/17/19 02:05 PM.

Re: Poaching bear baits [Re: ToTheWoods] #6619063
09/17/19 01:38 PM
09/17/19 01:38 PM
Joined: Nov 2018
Posts: 691
Saltlake city utah
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Steelflight Offline
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Steelflight  Offline
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Joined: Nov 2018
Posts: 691
Saltlake city utah
Its a real circus when dealing with public land. Just keep your nose clean gentlemen.


You may think before you act. The question is did you listen to your own council?
Re: Poaching bear baits [Re: ToTheWoods] #6619067
09/17/19 01:59 PM
09/17/19 01:59 PM
Joined: May 2013
Posts: 5,101
Northern Michigan
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J.Morse Offline
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J.Morse  Offline
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Joined: May 2013
Posts: 5,101
Northern Michigan
The only way we will be able to smooth out the ruffled feathers here would be to have a split season....bait only, then dog only. The DNR has tip-toed around this problem for decades. Maine does it well. Maine also has a sort of "registered bear baits" deal on all commercial forest land. Here, even though we have 3.3 million acres of CFR (Commercial Forest Reserve) land it is still a free-for-all there as well. The Commercial Forest Act needs to be amended so these companies can actually be allowed to charge for a bait station, and be able to limit the number and location so people don't have anything to bellyache about. As it is, guiding isn't allowed on that CFR land, even though gobs of Yoopers did it for years. The only commercial use/monitary gain of such lands is through timber harvest. Technically, you aren't even allowed to set and leave a trap, or leave a tree stand on that land overnight w/o the landowners ok. Cluster City.


Re: Poaching bear baits [Re: ToTheWoods] #6619087
09/17/19 02:35 PM
09/17/19 02:35 PM
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 2,581
sometimes PA sometimes ME
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ebsurveyor Offline
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ebsurveyor  Offline
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Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 2,581
sometimes PA sometimes ME
Sure glad that we have all leased bait sites here in Northern Maine. It is nice to be the only baiter in 400 - 500 sq. miles.

Re: Poaching bear baits [Re: ebsurveyor] #6619119
09/17/19 03:29 PM
09/17/19 03:29 PM
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 6,548
NC, Orange Co.
QuietButDeadly Online content
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QuietButDeadly  Online Content
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Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 6,548
NC, Orange Co.
.


Life Member: NCTA, VTA, NTA, TTFHA, MFTI
Member: FTA NRA NWTF
Re: Poaching bear baits [Re: ToTheWoods] #6619140
09/17/19 04:35 PM
09/17/19 04:35 PM
Joined: Apr 2013
Posts: 230
Twin Cities, MN
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Nate L Offline
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Joined: Apr 2013
Posts: 230
Twin Cities, MN

Where we hunt in Northern MN we haven't had any issues with other bear hunters being around luckily but I have also hunted the No Quota area just North of the Twin Cities and that can get crowded. No bear is worth getting in trouble over so make sure you keep your cool, in spite of the frustration. Whenever possible I do things to hide where I am baiting; like parking a ways down the road from where I am baiting and walking down the road and also walking in streams or other water on the way in to not leave a trail. By doing this I have been able to keep people from finding my baits; and I do have cameras on them with no people other than me on camera. As you mention it normally helps to get in off the road a ways, most of the other guys I see in the No Quota area are within 50 yards of the road.

On the other side of coin, several years back I was heading out on our first day of baiting and the tranny in my truck blew up. By the time I got it repaired and got baits out I was almost a week behind. Went to set one spot that I had scouted and there was a bait set 20 yards from where I was planning to put mine. It was a good spot but I just let it be and moved on. I ran into those guys later in the season and there were three buddies all hunting there, on separate baits, all within 300 yards of each other; glad I stayed clear of there.

Good luck on your hunt and I hope you get one. As mentioned by others, hunting the bear trail further back can work very well in situations like this.

Re: Poaching bear baits [Re: QuietButDeadly] #6619174
09/17/19 06:31 PM
09/17/19 06:31 PM
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 2,581
sometimes PA sometimes ME
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ebsurveyor Offline
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ebsurveyor  Offline
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Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 2,581
sometimes PA sometimes ME
Originally Posted by QuietButDeadly
Originally Posted by ebsurveyor
Sure glad that we have all leased bait sites here in Northern Maine. It is nice to be the only baiter in 400 - 500 sq. miles.






We are just rookie baiters, our 15 hunters only killed 12 bears.

Re: Poaching bear baits [Re: ToTheWoods] #6619179
09/17/19 06:42 PM
09/17/19 06:42 PM
Joined: Jun 2016
Posts: 13,971
Michigan
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Trapper Dahlgren Offline
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Trapper Dahlgren  Offline
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Joined: Jun 2016
Posts: 13,971
Michigan
every year I have problems with dog hunter running my land ,but the way the laws are there is nothing I can do , I own 200 acres ,an roadways on two side an private on two, so there is no way its by accident ,they let dogs out on public road mad

Re: Poaching bear baits [Re: ToTheWoods] #6619260
09/17/19 08:39 PM
09/17/19 08:39 PM
Joined: Dec 2012
Posts: 6,501
Wi.
D
Diggerman Offline
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Diggerman  Offline
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Joined: Dec 2012
Posts: 6,501
Wi.
Cry babies. Side baiting aint nothin new. If it aint happened to you, you aint huntin. It usually a bait sitter to cheap to hire a guide or put in the work. They just look for a good used trail, then bait next to it. Aint right but its public land, deal with it.

Re: Poaching bear baits [Re: ToTheWoods] #6619293
09/17/19 09:19 PM
09/17/19 09:19 PM
Joined: Jan 2015
Posts: 3,446
Houghton Lake, MI
strike2x Offline
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Joined: Jan 2015
Posts: 3,446
Houghton Lake, MI
I have people set up to close to an area I scouted, baited or set up stands or blinds. I may have done it to others but not on purpose. If someone is stealthy about those activity on state land it may be hard to tell they are there. It's not if you know they are there it is what you do after you realize they were there first.....everyone has a right to be on state land. Unfortunately not everyone understands sportsman etiquette. If that makes me one of the so-called crybabies so be it. How would you feel if your kid acted like those without etiquette.?


Wish I had more time to trap....
Re: Poaching bear baits [Re: ToTheWoods] #6619304
09/17/19 09:34 PM
09/17/19 09:34 PM
Joined: Dec 2012
Posts: 6,501
Wi.
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Diggerman Offline
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My kids wouldn't.

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